Dock/Undock to reset 30 minute timer

@mastakebob 58755 wrote:

Is there a minimum amount of time you have to leave a CaBi bike docked before the 30 minute timer resets? For instance, if I’m on a trip that I know will last longer than 30 minutes, can I find a station at the 29 minute mark, dock the bike, and then immediately undock the bike and continue on for another 30 minutes? Or do I have to wait for the bike to ‘cool down’ for some period of time before undocking it?

Is there a term for this strategy?

Totally legit. I don’t know that it has a name… dock hopping?

@Mark Blacknell 58763 wrote:

Just FYI, this lack of a reset time varies by city. Found myself surprised (and annoyed) by a reset time in Montréal. And since I’m complaining about Montréal, their CaBis have shorter seatposts, too.

Agreed…Paris I think was 5 minutes and in NYC there were a couple of times where the kiosks made us wait 2 minutes but, oddly, this only happened a handful of times…most times we were able to get a new code and re-check out our bikes immediately (yes, we definitely dock-hopped). Also, the seatposts on Citibikes are really tight and it takes some serious muscle to move the saddle up/down.

twss.

@Steve 58788 wrote:

Side question: did you have a European chip credit card, or did you just get your day passes online?

Got them online. I like that, as opposed to the CaBi and CitiBike, the code is your code for the whole day, no getting a new code every time you dock a bike.

Speaking of chipped cards, I really hope US banks start offering these standard…not having one in Europe is a serious pain in the ass.

In some cases, the first person might be docking the bike at a midpoint station on his planned route. If he gives up the bike, then he would have no way to bike to the next station. If it’s at a location far from Metro (like the Jefferson Memorial), this could be a problem.

@Tim Kelley 58757I’m interested in the etiquette of what one would be done if you were riding and came to an empty station where someone was already waiting for a bike to be returned and you were just checking in to extended your time. Would you feel bad taking their ride from them?[/QUOTE wrote:

Clear etiquette (to me) is that the person waiting gets the next bike. If I’m late enough that I can’t handle this, then the answer is to pay extended use fee.

@dasgeh 58812 wrote:

I disagree. As rcannon points out, an empty dock is CaBi’s fault for failing to adequately rebalance. If I just roll by, the waiting person still doesn’t get a bike and I have to pay more. Why should I have to pay more because CaBi failed to adequately rebalance? That would actually incentivize CaBi to not adequately rebalance.

Empty and full stations are going to happen. There are plenty of times during rush hour where the situation I described this could happen easily regardless of how well the system is rebalanced.